the way how epibatidine work.

The poison binds to receptors in an animal’s nervous system. So, they cause seizures, hypertension then death.

Epibatidine reacts with nicotinic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors and blocking them. Which involved in the transmission of pain Sensation movement and other functions.

How it protects itself from the poison?

Scientists thought about this question. So, the started a new study at The University of Texas at Austin.

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They discovered that the frog has a mutation in his Genes. Only one amino acid has changed, which doesn’t allow poison to attack his body that make them resistant for their own toxins.

Dr. Rebecca Tarvin said “Being toxic can be good for your survival. It gives you an edge over predators,”

Dr. Rebecca is a postdoctoral researcher at UT Austin and co-first author on the paper

Scientists say that epibatidine can act as powerful nonaddictive painkiller. In the lab, scientists succeeded to develop hundreds of compounds from the frog toxins, including one had been tried before being rude out due to other side effects.

New studies about frogs’ drugs

Every bit of information we can gather on how these receptors are interacting with the drugs gets us a step closer to designing better drugs,” said Cecilia Borghese. Another co-first author of the paper, and a research associate in the university’s Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research.

Borghese said,”The most exciting thing is how these amino acids that are not even in direct contact with the drug can modify the function of the receptor in such a precise way”.

She continued “The healthy compound, keeps working, as usual, no problem at all, and now the receptor is resistant to epibatidine. That for me was fascinating.”

The group of Texas university and partners in Ecuador made a study together, and collected tissue samples from 28 species of frogs.

They identified a series of genetic mutations in frogs .accordingly, and said that mutations protected them from their own toxins